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<title>Daily Smile: Wednesday, June 10, 2026</title>

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Daily Smile: Wednesday, June 10, 2026

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Michael Brestovansky

Government & Politics

A Maui County commission has called for “systemic reform” of the county’s boards and committees.

The Maui County Cost of Government Commission published Friday 

 of 15 county boards, committees and commissions. That review, requested in 2024 by the County Council, discovered chronic mismanagement throughout the county’s governance infrastructure, and recommended some boards to be dissolved entirely.

“These are not problems that can be solved one board at a time,” said Cost of Government Commission chair Dino Goossens-Larsen. “They call for structural reforms to the system as a whole.”

The review found that many boards have failed to consistently meet for years. The 

 was only able to reach quorum twice in 2024, and only four times in 2025, while the Conservation Planning Committee had no meetings at all for three years.

The review attributed this issue to difficulties in recruiting volunteers to serve on each board. Some commissions require expertise within a narrow subject field, or geographic seat requirements that make filling seats harder than necessary.

Meanwhile, other boards appear to be vestigial organs that continue to exist despite having no clear purpose. The review highlights the 

, which was formed in 1989 to advise the county mayor on the county’s equal employment opportunity initiatives, and meets only once per year.

The six-person advisory council is now redundant to the duties of the county managing director and an affirmative action coordinator, and seems to be “barely operational,” the review found. Nonetheless, it has continued to exist despite a previous review in 2011 recommending that the council be eliminated.

These problems extend beyond problems with individual committees, and highlight structural faults in how the county’s administration is set up.

For example, the review notes that the county’s Real Property Tax Review Board has to manage more than 1,000 property tax appeals annually, with hours-long meetings every two weeks. Despite this, the board is staffed entirely by volunteers, and the review determined that the board is at high risk of failure in part because of the extremely high workload placed on the five-person board.

At the same time, the oversight of the county’s boards and commissions is confusing, the review found. For example, the Maui Redevelopment Agency is formally attached to the county Department of Management, but relies on the county Planning Department for administrative support.

This confused structure also opens the county up for potential conflicts of interest and fraud. In particular, the review highlighted the 

Commission on Healing Solutions for Homelessness

 — a commission formed in 2020 to make housing policy recommendations — a commission plagued with resignations due to conflicts between members with financial ties to county-funded service providers.

That commission was also determined to be effectively non-functional, with 16 out of 28 meetings cancelled due to lack of quorum between 2024 and 2026, and only produced a single policy recommendation since its formation.

Ultimately, the review called for the County Council to conduct a comprehensive review of the process of establishing all county boards and commissions, and recommended the dissolution of five of the 15 boards evaluated by the board: the Affirmative Action Advisory Council, the Commission on Children and Youth, the Commission on Healing Solutions for Homelessness, the Dangerous Dog Adjudication and Appeals Board, and the Urban Design Review Board.

For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up 

Maui seal 16x9

<title>Maui County review recommends total 'reform' of volunteer boards</title>

The Maui County Cost of Government Commission found systemic dysfunction throughout 15 of the county's volunteer boards and commissions.

Maui County review recommends total 'reform' of volunteer boards

Katie Helland Headshot

Katie Helland

Arts & Entertainment

Father’s Day is Sunday, June 21. Ready to make plans to celebrate the father, grandfather, brother or uncle in your life? Here are some of the things you can do on Oʻahu to celebrate dads.

Aloha State Daily’s Food & Dining Reporter 

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta has a list of places to take dad in this guide: 

Where to celebrate Father’s Day 2026 - part 1

. From kiawe smoked prime rib to taro pancakes and soft-shell crab with yuzu butter sauce, there are plenty of ʻono options. 

The Westside Ahi Tournament returns for Father’s Day weekend. There are awards for biggest ahi and heaviest ahi, as well as ones for mahi, ono, aku and marlin. Each boat is allowed to win just one category per day. The winner’s pot is expected to be about $100,000 if at least 200 boats participate in the competition. Entry fees are $600. This year, the event is hosted by 

Comedians James Mane, Lanai and Kaleo Pilanca will take the stage for a Father’s Day show at the Blue Note Hawaiʻi hosted by 

. Doors open at 5 p.m. and the show starts at 6:30 p.m. Seating is first-come, first-served. 

Admission is free on the third Sunday of the month, including Father’s Day on Sunday, June 21. 

The Honolulu Museum of Art also offers free admission to military families of all ranks and services, including guard and reserve, from May 27 through Sept. 6, as part of the Blue Star Museums initiative, which is a partnership between the National Endowment of the Arts, Blue Star Families and the Department of Defense plus more than 2,000 participating museums across the nation. 

 Three Little Ducks Hawaiʻi, which is a team of pediatric experts and parents led by 

, a pediatric physical therapist, is hosting a number of Honolulu Dad Walks. While there is no walk on Father’s Day itself, there are Honolulu Dad Walks on June 16 at Kakaʻako Waterfront Park; June 18, at Magic Island; and June 23, at Kakaʻako Waterfront Park, among other dates. 

For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up 

Blue Note Hawaiʻi

<title>Your guide to Father’s Day 2026: laugh, eat, fish</title>

Ready to make Father’s Day plans? From fishing to eating, Aloha State Daily has your guide for how to celebrate on Oʻahu.

Your guide to Father’s Day 2026: laugh, eat, fish

Stephanie Salmons Headshot

Stephanie Salmons

Business & Tourism

Aloha Spirit

Changes are in the works for two organizations focused on improving Waikīkī.

Starting July 1, the Waikīkī Business Improvement District, or WBID, and Waikīkī Improvement Association, or WIA, will align management in an effort to streamline operations, reduce overhead and enhance efficiency.

It's not a merger; WBID, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, will continue to operate independently under the umbrella and management of WIA, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, joining three other nonprofits that already do so: Waikīkī Beach Special Improvement District Association (WBSIDA), the Waikīkī Transportation Management Association (WTMA) and Aloha Festivals. Each organization will maintain their own boards, funding and decision-making abilities.

"It's important because what we wanted to do was bring together and make more efficient the way that these organizations operated," Trevor Abarzua, president and executive director of WBID told Aloha State Daily this week. "They're all in Waikīkī. They all have similar but different missions, but there isn't necessarily a need for the duplication of staff, the duplication of resources, whether that's accounting or lawyers or everything that goes into overhead for a company or an organization. The reason we want to do the management alignment was to consolidate the overhead and then consolidate some of the roles."

[{"type":"text","text":"Here's what that looks like:"}]

Abarzua will become the president and CEO of WIA, replacing retiring CEO Rick Egged. John Zerfas, currently director of strategic initiatives for WBID will become the vice president of operations for WIA and a new position will be created for the vice president of community engagement. WBID's Administrative Director Suzanne Kirio will carry that role over to the WIA. There's also an opening for an events and member services position, replacing a vacant WIA communications director role.

Those five positions will be under the auspices of and paid from WIA funds.

That consolidation means "a savings across the board, not only for the WBID, but for all the other organizations, [as well as] consolidating who that leader is in Waikīkī, or who you go to for things," Abarzua says. "What we want to do is have a one-stop shop, that the WIA is a one-stop shop where you could get anything done in Waikīkī, whether you want to meet with the business community, you want to meet with the Neighborhood Board, you want to talk about the beach replenishment projects, you want to talk about the [Aloha] Ambassador program. You could reach out to one entity and they'll have the answers for everything, rather than having different spokespeople or different staff for all these different things. It made sense."

Abarzua says WIA will also be a bridge between the broader community and government.

[{"type":"text","text":"Meanwhile, Each 501(c)(3) nonprofit will have a day-to-day director."}]

WBID Deputy Director Dave Willard will oversee WBID operations under the new structure while Dolan Eversole and Blaine Kia, alongside other cultural and community leaders, will continue in their roles with WBSIDA and Aloha Festivals, respectively. There's currently an opening for a full-time position with WTMA.

According to a timeline on its website, WIA actually established the WBID in 2001 — but the organization branched off on its own a few years later.

"Now's a great time to bring it back together under this management alignment, under this umbrella of services, just based on the growth of Waikīkī, the growth of the initiatives that both the BID and WIA have worked on, and I think it just makes it more aligned for the organizations to be working hand-in-hand," Abarzua says.

[{"type":"text","text":"According to Abarzua, the nonprofits each pay a management fee to WIA."}]

WBID will pay an annual fee of about $345,000, about 6% of its budget, to WIA, "providing executive leadership, board support and coordinated communications," according to information provided during WBID's annual meeting in May. Meanwhile, a 25% cost share, about $76,000, will support the two VP roles.

"By taking the executive director and admin director salaries off the WBID books, and paying only a 25% cost share of the new VP of operations and a 25% cost share of a new VP of community engagement at the WIA level, WBID is able to generate significant administrative savings," the information noted. 

All told, WBID stands to save nearly $170,000. The money saved will be reinvested for more community services, Abarzua says.

So what will the people who live, work and visit Waikīkī notice with this change?

"With the alignment itself, one of the things they will notice is more efficiency in the way these organizations are run," Abarzua says. "But what the vision is for WIA is that we want to really reimagine what the organization does and how it's portrayed."

[{"type":"text","text":"That means a rebrand."}]

"We want to, again, rebrand WIA, with a new brand, a new name, a new look, new feel ... and we're going to do that over the next six to 12 months, starting in July, to be more community-facing," Abarzua told ASD. "Waikīkī Improvement Association's been around for a number of years, but we wanted to not only manage these key, crucial nonprofits, but I think this is a really great opportunity for the organization to really lead on how is Waikīkī branded?"

For his part, Abarzua, 33, says he couldn't be more excited to step into his new leadership role.

"There's a lot of momentum right now and I stand on the shoulders of giants that I've been able to learn from," he says. "Rick Egged in particular has been a staple in Waikīkī for 27 years. ... I've been able to learn under them for three-plus years in this role at the WBID, and being able to see what works and to learn from these guys that have so much wisdom, but then what I'm excited for, too, is to bring my own touch to it. I'm a younger guy. I have fresh ideas. I have fresh energy, so to take the things I've learned and to take the historical aspects of what's been going on, but then to really drive the idea of 'hey, we want to do new things. We want to really grow what Waikīkī  is doing,' just to make it the best possible destination in the world and the best possible community, not only to come to visit, but also to live in, to work in, to hang out and surf in. We want this to be for everyone."

, WBID was formed to help supplement city services and is supported by grants, donations and commercial property assessments on nearly 3,800 commercial properties in the Waikīkī Special District.

Part of WBID's efforts to keep Waikīkī clean and safe include the Aloha Ambassador Program, Safe & Sound Waikīkī, houseless and mental health outreach, and disaster preparedness training, its website notes.

(ICYMI: Read about Aloha Ambassador General Manager Solomon Kaimimoku 

Meanwhile, Abarzua says that WIA's main focus is representing the entire community of Waikīkī, not just businesses, but the residential community, the workforce, "just anything Waikīkī related."

WIA "works to enhance Waikīkī's physical, economic and cultural environment," its 

Trevor Abarzua Talking to an Ambassador

<title>Waikīkī Business Improvement District, Improvement Association to align management</title>

The move aims to streamline operations, reduce overhead and enhance efficiency and goes into effect July 1.

Waikīkī Business Improvement District, Improvement Association to align management

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta Headshot

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta

Food & Dining

Father’s Day is coming up Sunday, June 21. Whether dad wants a buffet, steak or seafood, check out the following options:

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"53 By the Sea"}]

: On Father’s Day, customers can take advantage of a variety of specials:

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Arden Waikīkī"}]

: For Father’s Day weekend, the eatery is featuring a special charcoal grilled 20-ounce bone-in prime rib-eye layered with mushroom bordelaise, and served with potatoes au gratin and brussels sprouts finished with a bacon lemon vinaigrette. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Aurum Maui (Maui)"}]

: The Shops at Wailea, 3750 Wailea Alanui Drive, Wailea

: This Wailea eatery will feature a special Father’s Day entrée and dessert. Customers can enjoy coffee glazed beef ribs with sweet potato macaroni salad and cheddar cheese polenta ($52), along with a Lahaina Town brown cake with bourbon caramel, pecans and vanilla ice cream ($16). 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Basalt Waikīkī"}]

: Basalt Waikīkī is offering a variety of Father’s Day specials:

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Big City Diner"}]

: The eatery is offering a variety of Father’s Day weekend specials.

The Father’s Day prime rib family pack ($229.99) is designed to serve four to five people. It includes:

The Father’s Day breakfast family pack ($99.99) serves four to five people. It includes:

[{"type":"text","text":"Other featured specials include:"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Big Island Candies"}]

: Ala Moana Center, 1450 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu 

: Big Island Candies is featuring its seasonal milk chocolate ulua and milk chocolate menpachi; they come in 10-ounce trays. They cost $22.50 each at the Ala Moana Center store ($21.50 at the Hilo flagship store and factory). 

: Available starting June 5, while supplies last 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Choco le‘a"}]

: The chocolate shop’s monthly specials include Guinness beer truffles ($3.25), hibiki truffles ($3.75), chips and cereal ($24.99) and June goodie bag ($9.99). The latter includes one dark chocolate covered pineapple, a dark chocolate covered Oreo and solid chocolate token bag.

The chips and cereal snack is inspired by the “Muddy Buddy” classic and includes Chex cereal, Bugles, kakimochi, cheese balls and whole macadamia nuts tossed in signature dark chocolate, peanut butter and powdered sugar. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Eating House 1849"}]

: International Market Place, 2330 Kalākaua Ave. Ste. 322, Honolulu 

: The eatery is serving up a variety of specials during both brunch and dinner. 

[{"type":"text","text":"Brunch specials:"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Dinner specials: "}]

: June 21; brunch from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., dinner from 4 to 9 p.m. 

: This Father’s Day special ($74.99) includes a pork adobo fried rice omelet, gisantes, pork adobo, dinuguan, pansit noodles, lechon special, sari sari and white rice. It’s designed to serve three to five people; no substitutions are available. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Empire Steak House"}]

: 1777 Ala Moana Blvd. 30th floor, Honolulu 

: This Father’s Day special costs $120 per person. It includes:

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Herringbone Waikīkī"}]

: This Father’s Day weekend special features a tomahawk and lobster tail dinner ($195). It includes a 24-ounce USDA Choice tomahawk, two lobster tails and double-baked shrimp Alfredo potato.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Kulu kulu cake"}]

: Eaton Square, 438 Hobron Lane Ste. 102, Honolulu 

: Specialty desserts include a Father’s Day beer roll cake ($18.50) — a chocolate roll cake in the shape of a beer mug — and Father’s Day bear puff ($6.50). The chocolate puff features a mustache decoration. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Mala Ocean Tavern (Maui)"}]

: This Father’s Day special costs $49 per person. The barbecue-themed menu includes slow-smoked beef ribs, Hawaiian barbecue pulled pork and salt-crusted pork belly, served with side dishes like lilikoi mac salad, furikake rice, green papaya slaw, Maui Gold barbecue sauce, housemade butter mochi cornbread and pickled pohole. 

The Shops at Wailea, 3750 Wailea Alanui Drive, Wailea

: This steakhouse will offer a Father’s Day brunch with dishes like shrimp and grits ($55), lobster frittata ($60) and a 6-ounce center-cut filet paired with a loaded frittata ($65). The eatery’s full dinner menu will be available starting at 3 p.m.; reservations are recommended. 

: For Father’s Day, SKY Waikīkī is serving up a tomahawk feast ($165). It includes a 32-ounce tomahawk steak, mashed potatoes and creamed spinach, an extra-thick slice of sizzling bacon, and a glass of Cabernet. 

: International Market Place, 2330 Kalakaua Ave. Ste. 330, Honolulu 

: StripSteak, A Michael Mina Restaurant, is highlighting a variety of signature cuts.

Prime cuts being served that evening will include a 50 to 60-ounce tomahawk rib-eye, 40-ounce dry-aged prime porterhouse, 22-ounce bone-in Kansas City New York Strip, and 22-ounce cowboy bone-in rib-eye.

The eatery will also highlight its Kurobuta pork duo, featuring a double-cut chop and braised pork belly, accompanied by Lambic beer peach puree and roasted peaches. A paired cocktail — the Heaven Hill Old Fashioned — will be poured two ways. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Sushi Aki"}]

: For Father’s Day, Sushi Aki is featuring a special menu for that week. The special omakase costs $280 per person. It includes three kinds of sashimi (chutoro, golden eye snapper and striped jack), Japanese whiting marinated in kelp, Pike conger eel with plum paste, Geoduck sushi, sweet shrimp sushi, steamed egg custard, three kinds of tempura, Hokkaido uni (small bowl), marinated akami, toro taku roll and more. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The Clubhouse Mililani"}]

: This Father’s Day prime rib special ($65) features a 16-ounce prime rib with roasted potatoes, au jus, sliced onions and chili pepper water. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The Pint & Cork (Maui)"}]

: Customers can enjoy Father’s Day specials like flat iron steak and pommes frites with local mushrooms, paniolo butter and grilled broccolini ($42); the BIB burger with white cheddar, applewood bacon and a fried egg ($24); and a Blanton’s Old Fashioned ($23). 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Zippy’s Restaurants"}]

: Father’s Day specials include pork chops with gravy ($17.95 in Honolulu) — which feature bone-in pork chops with gravy and mushrooms sauteed in garlic butter and onions — and a Father’s Day cake ($29.95 in Honolulu). The latter features a three-layer vanilla chiffon cake filled with whipped cream and decorated with a blue palaka pattern and ti-leaf lei border. 

Fathers Day roundup 53 By the Sea 060926

<title>Where to celebrate Father’s Day 2026 – part 2</title>

Whether you’re looking to dine-in or celebrate Father’s Day at home, we’ve got you covered. This guide also contains some local fare on Maui.

Where to celebrate Father’s Day 2026 – part 2

Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros Headshot

Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros

Viewpoints

The debate between the spelling and pronunciation of Molokaʻi or Molokai (with or without the glottal stop, or ʻokina, between the “a” and “i”) has been ongoing for decades.

Shortly after Aloha State Daily launched in January 2025, we decided to use diacritics in our reporting and across our website, setting out to do so accurately and consistently. 

The house style agreed upon at the time was "Molokai," based on this article from 

We chose to use the ʻokina and kahakō because, one, because our Content Management System allowed for it (some donʻt). But mostly, to preserve the culture, history and meaning of the Native Hawaiian language, people and places we write about daily.

Among our earliest articles was ASD Reporter Stephanie Salmons' 

, a professor of Hawaiian language and Hawaiian studies at the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo, who is also known as “the godfather of the Hawaiian language revitalization movement” in the 1980s.

According to past reporting, Kimura also was a producer for Ka Leo Hawai‘i, a 

 show that ran from 1972 to 1988, where he interviewed native ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi speakers. Those recordings can be heard at Kaniʻāina (

). Naturally, he was one of our go-tos on the Molokai question.

“Those speakers, who were born and raised on Molokaʻi, all pronounced the name of their island as Molokaʻi with the ʻokina letter,” Kimura recently told ASD by email. “Also, all the Native Hawaiian speakers not from Molokaʻi who interacted in conversation with them pronounced Molokaʻi with the ʻokina. … It is too bad the missionary alphabet did not know how to deal with that phonetic letter for the Hawaiian spelling back then.” 

For Hawaiian references, our newsroom primarily uses this site, 

, or a physical copy of the revised Hawaiian Dictionary co-authored by Mary Kawena Puku’i and Samuel H. Elbert in 1961, along with the revised and expanded edition of “Place Names of Hawai’i” by Puku’i, Elbert and Esther T. Mookini.

Those resources list the island as “Molokaʻi,” the latter book defining it as being “38 miles long, 10 miles wide, 261 square-miles in area, and in 1970, a population of 5,261.” Today, its population is between 7,000 to 7,500 people, per the most recent census data.

Merriam-Webster cites the geographical name as "Molokai," varying as “Molokaʻi." 

 has entries both ways but lists “Molokaʻi” first and most often, followed by “Molokai,” citing the revised Hawaiian dictionary by Henry H. Parker from 1922.

Peter T. Young of local planning and consulting firm 

opined that this debate dates back to 1778 when Captain Cook visited the Hawaiian Islands and attempted to turn an oral language into a written one, using 

Morotoi, or Morokoi (Molokai). See how the early writers spelled and pronounced certain words 

What seems to be the biggest point of contention; however, is over its meaning.

Molokaʻi (pronunciation: Moh-loh-kah-ee) translates to twisting or turning (“mola”) leader (alakaʻi).

Molokai (pronunciation: Moh-loh-kye or (Moh-Kye) means “twisting waters (kai)” or "gathering of ocean waters.”

Molokai native Miki'ala Pescaia shared with the Office of Hawaiian Affairs’ Ka Wai Ola magazine in June 2021: “When you put them together, what makes more sense 

 ‘Moloka'i’, the twisting leader, or ‘Molokai’, the twisting ocean waters? The late Harriet Ne 

 a historian, hula master and one of my father's teachers 

 said it should be 'Molokai,' referring to the waterspouts often seen off the island. Old maps show spelling variations, including Molokai, Morotoi and Molotoi, but they all have three syllables, not four as there would be when you say those words with an 'okina."

Current KWO Editor Puanani Akamine told ASD, “At OHA, we use the ʻokina mainly because that is how it is spelled in UH Hilo's online Hawaiian dictionary, 

. My grandmother was from Molokaʻi and a native speaker. She always pronounced it with an ʻokina, so that is my personal default, as well.”

asked Hālawa Valley resident Anakala Pilipo Solatorio to share why he uses “Molokai,” which he learned from his grandparents and ʻohana from the island. In the interview he notes, “My kūpunahine Lilia Hale also told me the same thing and went on to say that ʻMoloka'iʻ would refer to ʻAlaka'i,ʻ the Hawaiian value of leadership, which would then change the meaning ... to ‘twisted leader.’”

One Oʻahu-based Hawaiian language teacher didn't want to go on record with their thoughts for fear of backlash from the community. Some of the folks we asked from the Friendly Isle sided with “Molokai.”

 Executive Director Alice J. Ka'ahanui told ASD, “Personally, I choose to use ʻMolokaiʻ without the ʻokina because I was born and raised on Molokai and that is the way I was taught by our kūpuna. (It almost sounds like there is an 'okina because the ‘ai’ sounds like ‘eye’ with a heavy accent on ‘i’)."

She added that during the mid-to-late ’80s, that generation of college students started learning to use the ʻokina.

“I remember one person saying they learned the term ʻMolokaiʻ was incorrect because they likened the twisting and turning in the ocean to the way a toilet bowl turns. That cast a negative view of the word, and thinking back was probably used to encourage more people to pronounce it with the ʻokina.” Ka'ahanui continued. “To me, Moloka‘i just became a more contemporary pronunciation.”

“I also remember someone saying that when Mary Kawena Pukui was working on the dictionary, she didn't ask someone from Molokai for the pronunciation. It was someone on Hawaiʻi island that gave her the pronunciation.”

Kumu Pa’a Nui Lawrence Kalainia Kamani Aki of 

 is a 50th generation Hawaiian cultural practitioner, who teaches online and in-person workshops on the island.

“I live by the oral teaching of Na Kūpuna O Hālawa Valley, Molokai,” she told ASD by email. “I understand the University of Hawaiʻi standardizing the language. I have heard all the points of views of the younger generation and Na Kūpuna agreeing with the University of Hawaiʻi due to their degrees they have received from these Western education institutions.”

, also from Hālawa Valley, said that the pronunciation is not as important as the meaning, which he acknowledged references the ocean currents surrounding the island's southern shores.

pronunciations are correct and depends on which ʻohana you are speaking with.

Keldin Calairo-Nakagawa, lead singer of Hawaiian-reggae group 

told ASD this week that he uses both and that either way works.

ASD ghost stories columnist Lopaka Kapanui

 weighed in, saying, “According to natives of the island, and our dear friend whose ʻohana is from there, it's ‘Molokai,’ or 'rolling waters due to the Ka'iwi channel.'

 from the Mary Kawena Pukui Cultural Preservation Society, his answer broadened to, “Guess it depends.”

While “guess it depends” seems like the best answer for colloquial conversations, as a news organization where words are the backbone of our business and meaning matters not only to us but our readers, our inclination is to stick with Molokai.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"What’s yours?"}]

Molokai map

Aloha State Daily revisits the Molokaʻi or Molokai debate over the spelling and pronunciation of the place name — with or without an ʻokina — initially for our own house style guide used across the website. Here’s what we learned from community members statewide.

Daily Smile: Wednesday, June 10, 2026

ASD Staff

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Daily Smile: Wednesday, June 10, 2026

Authors

ASD Staff

Reporter

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